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A sense of community in the workplace fosters productivity, finds CoreNet Global

by Brianna Crandall — March 10, 2017 — While the term “workplace” today can refer to a range of settings, including the living room table, coffee shop, co-working spaces and traditional offices, one common theme consistently emerges: a sense of community fosters teamwork and results in greater productivity.

The conclusion in a new white paper prepared for global corporate real estate (CRE) association CoreNet Global by Dr. Peggie Rothe, development director of Leesman, a U.K.-based workplace research firm, is that the “workplace plays a key role in the pursuit to foster social cohesion — but it can also prevent it from happening.”

“Providing spaces where people can come together to be relaxed and discuss ideas is vital in this pursuit. It’s important that workplace professionals provide an environment that allows people to interact with others,” Rothe wrote in the report.

“Within the last couple of decades, business leaders have also realized the importance of community spirit in the workplace, and its impact on culture, collaboration and individual and collective contribution. Research has previously shown that if we feel a sense of belonging in a group, then we perform a lot better as a team,” Rothe continued.

The challenge for the corporate real estate profession, the paper urges, is to take a holistic view and understand the workplace as a larger system where all the building blocks influence each other.

Tim Venable, senior vice president at CoreNet Global, stated:

We know from meeting and working with corporate real estate leaders around the globe that teams with greater cohesion and sense of community will produce better results. This paper illuminates the important role that the workplace has in enhancing team performance and effectiveness.